·          Keywords, Keywords, Keywords!

Less is more! Think of your keywords as search terms – how would someone trying to find your site search for it? The 2 most important keywords in your site are the title and page header. BEWARE: Putting ridiculous amounts of keywords can work against you! Search engine spiders are programmed to ignore site that “keyword-stuff.” Again, the more selective and relevant your keywords are the better. Below are some example keywords for an accounting firm that is targeting individuals for tax preparation.

accounting, finance, cpas in "city/state", filing taxes, income taxes, 1040 forms

·          Image Descriptions 

Spiders can only search or text and/or text strings, not text or “words” in your images. This is why including a description with your images is critical! Adding an tag allows you to include a keyword-rich description for every image on your site. Descriptions should be as relevant as possible to the content/context of the image. The text should be in immediate physical proximity to your image.

·          Link back to yourself 

This is SEO 101. It is the most common and most widely used method for SEO – integration of internal links into your site. Instead of replacing old content with new content, move the old content to a subpage called “Archive” then upload the new and link back to the old. Like keywords, this can be overdone and become counterproductive. Keep it simple and relevant.

·          Link to others 

        An easy way to direct traffic to your site is by developing relationships with other sites.  Make sure they have a good web-reputation, then personally as the webmasters of well-respected sites if they will include a link to your site on theirs. If they do, be sure to return the favor – everybody wins! IMPORTANT: Verify external links, being tied to a “linking-farm” can drive your SEO stats down!

·          Social Media Spotlight

        The new age “word of mouth” advertising. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are an excellent way distributing fresh links to your site across the web. Many social media web sites offer corporate or “business” pages.

·          Track your stats 

Knowing where you stand or rank will ultimately help you determine if your current SEO settings are working. A good place to see your current ranking is

                http://www.alexa.com(click here). It is also important to check your referral log regularly to track where your visitors are coming from.

·          Create a sitemap 

Adding a sitemap – a page listing and linking to all other major pages on your site – makes it easier for spiders to search your site and pickup on your keywords. The fewer clicks necessary for a visitor to get to a page on your site, the better!

·          Search-friendly URLs 

Make your URLs more search-friendly by naming them with clear keywords. Example, it is easy to understand what www.google.com/maps is than if the in-house or backend name of www.google.com/apps?/uid=850927408347/maps=true/ is used.

·          Avoid Flash 

There is no doubt that one of the best ways to separate your site from the rest is by incorporating well designed Flash elements. Unfortunately, Flash animations and Frames are of NO use to search spiders. If you decide to use Flash elements in your site, treat them like images and add a text description.

·          CONTENT 

Your content needs to be fresh, updating regularly and often is crucial for increasing traffic. One way to ensure that your site gets new content on a frequent basis is to maintain a blog. An executive blog is an excellent way to reach out to your clients, create more opportunities for internal and external linking, while giving your site a more personal voice. 

Note: Google doesn't require registration and scans over servers once a month to pick up details (however it can take up to 6 months for results to show). Yahoo doesn't scan servers, and requires a submitted request (usually showing results within two weeks).